Thursday, Oct. 25, 2012 - Ravenna, Italy
We awakened the next morning with the ship tied to the dock in Ravenna, Italy. We had a private 3 hour tour scheduled for the morning and after the group of 14 met on the ship at an appointed location we proceeded off the ship to the center of town where we met our guide. This tour could be named "Ravenna, City of Grand Churches". Our first stop was at the Sant'Apollinare Nuovo. Below is the main area of this court church that was attached to the palace of the Arian King Theodoric, built in the 3rd century. With the Byzantine reconquest in 540 the church was converted from Arian Christian to orthodox use and rededicated to St. Martin. The church is outstanding for the mosaic decoration in the nave where the walls are covered.
From this basilica we walked toward the Basilica of Saint Francis
and stopped at Dante's tomb . Dante Alighieri, the famous poet ("The Divine Comedy") from Florence, like most Florentines of his time, was embroiled in the Guelph-Ghibelline conflict. After defeating the Ghibellines, the Guelphs divided into two factions: the White Guelphs and the Black Guelphs, and began fighting against each other. Dante belonged to the White Guelphs who lost the fight in 1301. The poet was condemned to perpetual exile and ordered to pay a large fine. If he returned to Florence without paying the fine, he could be burned at the stake. For Dante, exile was nearly a form of death, stripping him of his very identity and his heritage. Dante spent 17 years wandering before he was invited to Ravenna in 1318. He died in 1321 (at the age of 56) while returning to Ravenna from a diplomatic mission to Venice. Dante was buried in Ravenna.
In due course, the fathers of the city of Florence realized that its exiled citizen was the greatest Italian poet and demanded that Ravenna should return his remains. In 1519, complying with Michelangelo's request, Pope Leo X ordered the transfer of Dante's remains to Florence. The coffin arrived but it was empty. It appeared that the very clever Franciscans from Ravenna had pierced a hole in the tomb, took away the remains and buried them secretly in a nearby Franciscan monastery. Later they were transferred back to the tomb that we visited.
In 1829 a tomb was built for Dante in Florence in the basilica of Santa Croce. That tomb has been empty ever since, with Dante's body remaining in Ravenna.
At the nearby church, the Basilica of Saint Francis, the funeral for Dante was held.
The mosaics of another church were as impressive as those of the first.
The flowers in the center of this road were beautiful.
Some of our group listen to the guide tell us about the building in the second picture.
The last church we visited was St. Vitalie Basilica with the exterior picture below followed by the interior pictures again with the beautiful mosaics.
We emerged in a courtyard where the tour ended.
